- More than half of consumers encounter fraud attempts every month, F-Secure finds
- Many believe they could spot a scam – two fifths of them became victims
- Consumers point to telcos when it comes to protection
New research from F-Secure claims that online scams have now reached more than half of consumers, with 56% of people saying they encountered such attempts at least once a month by 2025.
The data, cited in the company’s latest Scam Intelligence & Impacts Report based on a survey of 10,000 consumers, has revealed that half (52%) of all victims also lose money when compromised in an attack.
In fact, the number of victims who lose money as a result of fraud has more than doubled compared to the previous year.
Humans vs AI
The news for consumers is mixed, with F-Secure noting that fraud exposure is no longer increasing as quickly as it did. However, fraudsters are getting better at monetizing attacks, making the consequences potentially worse.
While half of the population is affected by fraud each month, the data estimates that 40 million Americans have also fallen victim to fraud over the past 12 months. Earlier in 2024, Featurespace found that nearly 80 million Americans had lost money to scams in the previous half decade.
According to the data, attackers are also focusing more on larger payouts rather than low-level phishing attempts. Fake invoice scams, investment scams and bank scams have proven to be popular over the past year.
Not surprisingly, artificial intelligence is credited with boosting many attacks, giving cybercriminals opportunities for better targeting, closer mimicry and faster turnaround from concept to attack.
F-Secure also noted that many are now turning to AI chatbots for information without verifying output authenticity, making them more vulnerable in an AI-first era. The company observed that ChatGPT was sharing scam phone numbers with users when thousands of flights were canceled due to winter storms.
Stay safe
Looking ahead, the company also worries about an increase in fraudulent stores as more consumers turn to AI for their online shopping.
That’s without considering that fraudsters are also leaning on artificial intelligence to help them improve the quality of their so-called ‘bait’, including personalized emails, synthetic voices and fake photos and videos.
Confidence in spotting them remains high, with more than two in three (69%) believing they could spot a scam, yet 43% of these people also fell victim to fraud.
“As AI increasingly shapes both how decisions are made and how fraud is carried out, it will become harder for people to distinguish what is real from what is not,” wrote President and CEO Timo Laaksonen.
The FTC recently warned that social media as an attack vector is increasingly important to criminals, with money losses increasing eightfold between 2020 and 2025. By 2025, about a third (30%) of all US citizens who lost money to a scam said it started on social media.
Demographically, younger consumers are most likely to face the highest number of attack attempts, possibly due to their increased online activity, while older generations typically stand to lose the most money if successfully attacked.
In terms of who is responsible for protecting consumers, 93% agree that it is important for telecoms providers to offer protection, and four-fifths (82%) even say this can influence which provider they choose to go with.
Laaksonen calls for “a step beyond traditional protections to build true resilience and trust across the entire digital experience.”
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